Many utilities are transitioning from strictly “metering-oriented suppliers” of gas, water, and electricity to “customer-oriented full-service providers” with a diverse variety of services ranging from e-mobility and smart home solutions to fast data connections for private houses and even Industry 4.0.

Meeting the needs of the above industry requirements needed a modern IT infrastructure, ideally in the cloud in whole or in part, dynamically deployable applications, and seamless connectivity. Most utilities cannot make a complete transition to the cloud at this time, owing to the lack of a comprehensive, native cloud solution.

Time to know more about how the Utilities Industry can drive its pace of digital transformation with RISE with SAP’s business transformation as a service!

Let’s begin by unveiling the strategic priorities;

Strategic Priorities for the Utilities Industry:

• Drive operational excellence
• Support regulatory compliance and security
• Explore new revenue streams
• Build customer intimacy

This writing details the benefits of focusing on New Revenue Streams for the Utilities Industry.

What does “New Revenue Streams” for the Utilities Industry mean?

The utilities industry is under intense competition from sources other than traditional utilities (oil and gas corporations, B2B utilities clients, the supermarket market, and so on). Because of declining margins, the utility sector can no longer rely solely on the traditional electricity and water business (as a commodity).

Customers are requesting new, extra goods and services (such as maintenance services and insurance) to supplement traditional energy and water supplies. The new normal is the ability to offer customers this combination of commodities and non-commodities while taking into account energy infrastructure restrictions.

There rises the need to search and satisfy the arising requirements of clients and in turn generate revenue from the new age services/products offered.

What impact do “New Revenue Streams” create for the Utilities Industry?

In order to analyze the impact created let us give brainstorm on two different scenarios and finally, identify the one with more efficiency;

Scenario 1:

The utilities industry generally offers services using the metering devices, let’s assume a scenario where the electromechanics meter is on or off its peak, and for the entire year we collect the meter readings through customer or other manual processes. Post which from the meter values the products run through standard quality checks and collects all relevant information. But since the information lacks prioritization there’s a delay in revenue to complete the inequality check and enter the market.

Scenario 2:

Well, here we use a smart meter that auto-calculates the intervals and produces the most accurate values, post which a person obtains a complete analysis in the scenario and suggests quick developments to improvise the meter. Then we implement machine learning algorithms to validate and estimate the final metered data and help us to focus on rare exceptional scenarios to provide better results. The wholesome process is accelerated to improvise customer satisfaction and revenue.

After looking into both the scenarios, hope your answer is to choose the Next-Gen Practices involved in scenario 2 to excel and generate new revenue streams for your industry.

Now let’s look into the tools offered by SAP to generate new revenue streams for your industry,

Intelligent tools of SAP to generate new revenue streams for the Utilities Industry: 

• SAP S/4HANA Utilities and SAP S/4HANA Cloud – designed for meter-to-cash workflows.
• SAP Commerce Cloud solutions – are designed for multichannel sales.
• SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Service Cloud – products are designed for sales agents and omnichannel services, respectively.
• SAP Field Service Management – used to link the complete field service network.
• SAP Crowd Service – a system for connecting customers and service providers.
• SAP Cloud for Energy – for any sort of metering data required for analytics and the processing of new goods and services.
• SAP Market Communication for Utilities – for safe, dependable, and robust data exchange process support
• SAP Self-Service Accelerator for Utilities by SEW – for giving self-service applications to customers
• SAP E-Mobility solution – enables the connection of EV charging stations and the provision of services.
• SAP Analytics Cloud – enables improved decision-making by giving insights.

Benefits offered to Utilities Industry:

• By converting conventional consumers into prosumers, you may sell new services and build energy communities.
• Increase project profits by increasing client focus and insight and control.
• Introduce a new generation of commodities tariffs.
• Allow for field service management and execution.
• Time-of-use charges for time series consumption are suggested.
• Management of customer energy assets, from installation through integrated product and service billing
• Improved selling, bidding, engagement, and forecasting by giving project teams the tools they need to plan, manage, and communicate on projects.

Outcome-Driven Values:

• 20% – 40% More flexibility in creating time-of-use products for FTE decrease
• 30% Increase in consumer self-service via e-commerce
• 5% to 10% Increased margin due to increased revenue from new goods and services

To conclude, RISE with SAP can accelerate the pace of digital transformation and your transition to green energy, optimize the environmental impact, increase asset utilization, reduce waste, build sustainable products, and increase compliance.  The SAP S/4HANA digital core and improved business analytic tools offer game-changing capabilities for utilities as they strive for more business agility, greater customer-centricity, and new business models and revenue streams.

Own your tomorrow with a guided journey and outcome-driven practices of RISE with SAP, to know more about the industry-specific solution, do get in touch with us!